Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1731

Year 1731 (MDCCXXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar.

Events[link]

January–June[link]

• March 16 – The Treaty of Vienna is signed between the Holy Roman Empire, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic and Spain.
• April 2 – The town of Raynham, Massachusetts in Bristol County is entered as a new town by the governor and court of Massachusetts, New England, America.

Date unknown[link]

• John Bevis observes the Crab Nebula for the first time.
• Royal Colony of North Carolina Governor George Burrington asks the North Carolina General Assembly to pass an act establishing a town on the Cape Fear River, in what is seen as a political move to shift the power away from the powerful Cape Fear plantation class. The town is laid out in 1733 and incorporated as Wilmington in 1740.
• English Captain Charles Gough rediscovers Gough Island in the South Atlantic.
• Laura Bassi becomes the first official female university teacher on being appointed professor of anatomy at the University of Bologna at the age of 21.^[1]
• The Royal Theatre of Mantua (Italy) is built by Ferdinando Galli Bibiena.
• Benjamin Franklin starts the Library Company of Philadelphia.

Births[link]

• February – Charles Churchill, English poet (d. 1764)
• April 8 – William Williams, Signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1811)
• May 8 – Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London and abolitionist (d. 1809)
• June 2 – Martha Washington, First Lady of the United States (d. 1802)
• August – Henry Constantine Jennings, English gambler and collector (d. 1819)
• October 10 – Henry Cavendish, English scientist (d. 1810)
• November 9 – Benjamin Banneker, African-American astronomer and surveyor of the District of Columbia (d. 1806)
• November 15 – William Cowper, English poet (d. 1800)
• December 8 – František Xaver Dušek, Czech composer (d. 1799)
• December 12 – Erasmus Darwin, English scientist and grandfather of Charles Darwin (d. 1802)
• December 28 – José de Viera y Clavijo, Spanish writer

Deaths[link]

• January 6 – Étienne François Geoffroy, French chemist (b. 1672)
• January 27 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments (b. 1655)
• February 22 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
• March 8 – Ferdinand Brokoff, Czech sculptor (b. 1688)
• April 24 or April 26 – Daniel Defoe, English writer (b. 1660)
• May 1 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (b. 1677)
• August 27 – Eudoxia Lopukhina, divorced wife of Peter the Great of Russia (b. 1669)
• December 17 – George Lockhart, writer, spy and politician (duel)
• December 26 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French writer (b. 1672)
• December 29 – Brook Taylor, English mathematician (b. 1685)

References[link]

Benedetto Marcello

Benedetto Giacomo Marcello (Italian pronunciation: [beneˈdetto marˈtʃɛllo]; 31 July or 1 August 1686 – 24 July 1739) was a Venetian composer, writer, advocate, magistrate, and teacher.

Life[link]

Born in Venice, Benedetto Marcello was a member of a noble family and his compositions are frequently referred to as Patrizio Veneto. Although he was a music student of Antonio Lotti and Francesco Gasparini, his father wanted Benedetto to devote himself to law. Benedetto managed to combine a life in law and public service with one in music. In 1711 he was appointed member of the Council of Forty (in Venice's central government), and in 1730 he went to Pola as Provveditore (district governor). Due to his health having been "impaired by the climate" of Istria, Marcello retired after eight years to Brescia in the capacity of Camerlengo where he died of tuberculosis in 1739.

Benedetto Marcello was the brother of Alessandro Marcello, also a notable composer. On 20 May 1728 Benedetto Marcello married his singing student Rosanna Scalfi in a secret ceremony. However, as a nobleman his marriage to a commoner was unlawful and after Marcello's death the marriage was declared null by the state. Rosanna was unable to inherit his estate, and filed suit in 1742 against Benedetto's brother Alessandro Marcello, seeking financial support.^[1]

Music[link]

Marcello composed a diversity of music including considerable church music, oratorios, hundreds of solo cantatas, duets, sonatas, concertos and sinfonias. Marcello was a younger contemporary of Antonio Vivaldi in Venice and his instrumental music enjoys a Vivaldian flavor.

As a composer, Marcello was best known in his lifetime and is now still best remembered for his Estro poetico-armonico (Venice, 1724–1727), a musical setting for voices, figured bass (a continuo notation), and occasional soloist instruments of the first fifty Psalms, as paraphrased in Italian by his friend G. Giustiniani. They were much admired by Charles Avison, who with John Garth brought out an edition with English words (London, 1757).

The library of the Brussels Conservatoire possesses some interesting volumes of chamber-cantatas composed by Marcello for his mistress. Although Benedetto Marcello wrote an opera called La Fede riconosciuta and produced it in Vicenza in 1702, he had little sympathy with this form of composition, as evidenced in his writings (see below).

Benedetto Marcello's music is "characterized by imagination and a fine technique and includes both counterpoint and progressive, galant features" (Grove, 1994).

With the poet Antonio Conti he wrote a series of experimental long cantatas - a duet, Il Timoteo, then five monologues, Cantone, Lucrezia, Andromaca, Arianna abandonnata, and finally Cassandra.

Writing[link]

Marcello vented his opinions on the state of musical drama at the time in the satirical pamphlet Il teatro alla moda, published anonymously in Venice in 1720. This little work, which was frequently reprinted, is not only extremely amusing, but is most valuable as a contribution to the history of opera.

Legacy[link]

The composer Joachim Raff wrote an opera entitled Benedetto Marcello, based loosely on the life of Marcello and Scalfi.^[2]

The Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello di Venezia was named after him.

Selected recordings[link]

• solo cantata Cassandra Kai Wessel (countertenor), David Blunden (harpsichord), Aeon Classics 2010.
• opera Arianna (opera) Chandos 2000
• Requiem in the Venetian Manner. Academia de li Musici, dir. Filippo Maria Bressan, Chandos 1999

Media[link]

	Flute Sonata in F major Performed by Albert Tipton (flute) and Mary Norris (piano)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• This entry was originally based on an entry in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
• The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 1994.
•  "Benedetto Marcello". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 

External links[link]

• Free scores by Benedetto Marcello at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Benedetto Marcello in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Benedetto Marcello in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• The Mutopia Project has compositions by Benedetto Marcello

Johann Ludwig Bach.

Johann Ludwig Bach (born 4 February 1677; buried 1 May 1731) was a composer and violinist.

He was born in Thal. At the age of 22 he moved to Meiningen eventually being appointed cantor there, and later Kapellmeister. He wrote a large amount of music and regularly oversaw performances, both at Meiningen and neighbouring courts.

He was a second cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach, who made copies of several of his cantatas and performed them at Leipzig. The cantata Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen, BWV 15, once thought to be by Johann Sebastian, and listed as BWV 15 in Wolfgang Schmieder's catalogue of his works, is now thought to be by Johann Ludwig.

Works, editions and recordings[link]

• Mache dich auf, werde Licht - Cantatas Mache dich auf werde Licht. Ja du hast mir Arbeit gemacht. Er machet uns lebendig. Die mit Tränen säen. Barbara Schlick, Mary Nichols, Wilfried Jochens, Jungendkantorei Dormagen, Das kleine Konzert, Hermann Max, Carus-Verlag, 1981
• Das ist meine Freude - Motets Das Blut Jesu Christi. Das ist meine Freude. Die richtig für sich gewandelt haben. Gedenke meiner o Gott. Gott sei uns gnädig. Ich habe dich ein klein Augenblick verlassen. Ich will auf den Herren schauen. Sei nun wieder zufrieden meine Seele. Uns ist ein Kind geboren. Wir wissen so unser irdisches Haus. Ex tempore Gent, Orpheon Consort Wien, Florian Heyerick. Carus-Verlag, 2006

References[link]

External links[link]

• Diskographie der Bach Werke - Johann Sebastian Bach - Bach-Familie: Johann Ludwig Bach
• Free scores by Johann Ludwig Bach in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by Johann Ludwig Bach at the International Music Score Library Project

Gottfried Silbermann (January 14, 1683 – August 4, 1753) was an influential German constructor of keyboard instruments. He built harpsichords, clavichords, organs, and fortepianos; his modern reputation rests mainly on the latter two.

Life[link]

Very little is known about Silbermann's youth. He was born in Kleinbobritzsch (now a part of Frauenstein, Saxony) as the youngest son of the carpenter Michael Silbermann. They moved to the nearby town of Frauenstein in 1685, and it is possible that Gottfried also learnt carpentry there. He moved to Straßburg in 1702, where he learnt organ construction from his brother and came in touch with the French-Alsatian school of organ construction. He returned to Saxony as a master craftsman in 1710, and opened his own organ workshop in Freiberg one year later. His second project in Germany was the "Grand Organ" in the Freiberg Cathedral of St. Mary, finished in 1714. In 1723 he was bestowed the title Königlich Pohlischen und Churfürstlich Sächsischen Hof- und Landorgelmachers ("Honorary Court and State Organ Builder to the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony") by Frederick I.^[1] Silbermann died in Dresden in 1753, probably as the result of a tin-lead poisoning, while still working on the organ at the Hofkirche.

Silbermann organ in Freiberg Cathedral

Silbermann's organs[link]

The organs that Silbermann and his brother Andreas Silbermann built show a clear and distinctive style, both in architecture and in their music qualities. Silbermann never deviated from this style. Silbermann's ability to earn money with organ construction was remarkable, leading him to uncommon wealth. His economic operation and slow consolidation of his position eventually created a near monopoly. His apprentices had to pledge never to work in Central Germany.

Silbermann's non-negotiable style was not welcome everywhere , an important example of an opponent being Johann Sebastian Bach, who, unlike Silbermann who tuned in meantone temperament, preferred a more flexible tuning.

Silbermann designed and built approximately 50 organs, 29 of which are still in existence in Saxony, including the organ in the Hofkirche in Dresden. The Hofkirche organ and that of Freiberg Cathedral are considered his greatest works. The organ in Freiberg Cathedral has three manuals and 41 stops divided between Oberwerk, Hauptwerk, Brustwerk and Pedal. Silbermann's organs are characterised by the use of strong reeds, a broad range of stops, and pipes with a high tin content, which adds a distinctive brightness to the tone.^[2]

Silbermann and the piano[link]

Silbermann was also a central figure in the history of the piano. He transmitted to later builders the crucial ideas of Bartolomeo Cristofori (the inventor of the piano), ensuring their survival, and also invented the forerunner of the damper pedal.

Evidence from the Universal-Lexicon of Johann Heinrich Zedler indicates that Silbermann first built a piano in 1732, only a year after Cristofori's death. Silbermann may have found out about Cristofori's invention as follows. In 1709, Scipione Maffei did research on the newly invented piano, including an interview with Cristofori, and published his findings (with a ringing endorsement of the instrument) in a 1711 Italian journal article. In 1725, this article was translated into German by the Dresden court poet Johann Ulrich König, who was almost certainly a personal acquaintance of Silbermann.

In his mature pianos, Silbermann scrupulously copied the complex action found in Cristofori's last instruments, failing only to produce a correct copy of the back check. Silbermann also copied another ingenious Cristofori invention, the inverted wrest plank (see Bartolomeo Cristofori for the function of this device). In other respects (case construction, choice of wood species, string diameters and spacing, keyboard design), Silbermann relied on his own experience as a harpsichord builder.

During the 1740s, King Frederick the Great of Prussia became acquainted with Silbermann's pianos and bought a number of them (the early 19th century musicologist Johann Nikolaus Forkel claims this number was 15, though Stewart Pollens (reference below) believes this to be "certainly exaggerated"). Two of Silbermann's pianos are still located in Frederick's palaces in Potsdam today; they stand out for their elegant but plain and sober design amid the elaborate splendor of their surroundings.

The forerunner of the damper pedal[link]

Silbermann invented a device by which the player could lift all of the dampers off the strings, permitting them to vibrate freely, either when struck or sympathetically when other notes were played. This is the function in later pianos of the damper pedal. Silbermann's device was different from the modern damper pedal in two respects. First, it was not actually controlled by a pedal, but rather was a hand stop, which required the player to cease playing on the keys for a moment in order to change the damper configuration. Thus, it was a device for imparting an unusual tonal color to whole passages, rather than a means of nuanced expression as the pedal is today. Second, Silbermann's device was bifurcated, permitting the dampers of the treble and bass sections to be lifted separately. This latter feature has recently been reintroduced to the piano, in the form of the fourth and fifth pedals of pianos made by the Borgato firm; see Innovations in the piano.

There are at least two possible reasons for why Silbermann invented his damper-lifting mechanism. First, as an organ builder, he may have favored the idea of providing the player with a variety of tonal colors. The same impulse led German harpsichord builders of the time occasionally to include two-foot (two octaves higher than normal pitch) and sixteen-foot (one octave lower) choirs of strings in their instruments.

In addition, Silbermann had until 1727 built very large hammer dulcimers, called pantaleons, on behalf of Pantaleon Hebenstreit, who achieved a sensational career with virtuosic playing on this demanding instrument. The pantaleon, like any other hammered dulcimer, had no dampers and thus created a wash of sound. Silbermann later had a falling out with Hebenstreit and was blocked by a royal writ from building any further pantaleons. Stewart Pollens conjectures that in adding the damper-raising stop to the piano, Silberman may have been attempting to partially circumvent this restriction.

Silbermann and Bach[link]

The 18th century musician Johann Friedrich Agricola tells a story about the relationship of Silbermann, Johann Sebastian Bach, and pianos. After Silbermann had completed two instruments, Agricola says, he showed them to Bach, who replied critically, saying that the tone was weak in the treble and the keys were hard to play. Silbermann was stung and angered by the criticism, but ultimately took it to heart and was able to improve his pianos (exactly how is not known, but it may have been the result of Silbermann's encountering Cristofori's most mature instruments). The improved Silbermann pianos met with Bach's "complete approval" ("völlige Gutheißung"), and indeed a preserved sales voucher dated May 8, 1749 shows that Bach acted as an intermediary for Silbermann in the sale of one of his pianos.

Silbermann's pupils[link]

Silbermann's most important contribution to the piano may have been as the teacher of other builders. His nephew and pupil Johann Andreas Silbermann was the teacher of Johann Andreas Stein, who perfected the so-called "Viennese action", found in the pianos used by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Another group of Silbermann pupils were the so-called the "twelve apostles". These builders fled Germany during and after the time of chaos created by the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), migrating to England, where economic prosperity was creating new opportunities for instrument builders. The "twelve apostles" included Johannes Zumpe, whose invention of an affordable small square piano greatly popularized the instrument. They also included Americus Backers, one of the inventors of the "English action", which was a modified version of the Cristofori action.

Silbermann's role was crucial because, unlike other builders of his day, he refused to compromise on the quality of the action. Cristofori's action was complex and hard to build, leading many builders (e.g. Zumpe) to use instead a simplified, but clumsier action. Through Backers and others, the original conception of a complex but effective action survived. The English action was later modified and improved further by Sébastien Érard and Henri Herz to yield the action used in all grand pianos today. With the advent of industrial methods of manufacture, it ultimately became economical to include the complex modern action even in inexpensive pianos, thus vindicating Silbermann's original decision.

Silbermann's fame as a builder and teacher was such that for many decades he was regarded as the inventor of the piano; it was only with nineteenth century scholarship that this honor was restored to Cristofori.

References[link]

• The organ portion of this article is based on a translation from the German Wikipedia. The original is located here.
• For the piano portion, the following two reference works were relied on:
  • Good, Edwin M. (1982). Giraffes, black dragons, and other pianos : a technological history from Cristofori to the modern concert grand. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. 
  • Pollens, Stewart (1995). The Early Pianoforte. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• www.silbermann.org Gottfried-Silbermann-Society
• (German) Life of Silbermann
• (German) www.silbermannorgel-crostau.de Silbermann organ at Crostau

Gaetano Pugnani (27 November 1731 – 15 July 1798, full name: Giulio Gaetano Gerolamo Pugnani) was born in Turin. He trained on the violin under Giovanni Battista Somis and Giuseppe Tartini. In 1752, Pugnani became the first violinist of the Royal Chapel in Turin. Then he went on a large tour that granted him great fame for his extraordinary skill on the violin. In 1754, he was very well received at the Concert Spirituel in Paris, but in 1768 he had an even more successful musical encounter in London, directing the King's Theatre from 1767 to 1769.

In 1770, Pugnani returned home to Turin and became the director of the Royal Chapel. His fame as a composer began to grow, but it would never equal his fame as a violinist. During this time, he also taught the violin. His most famous pupil was Giovanni Battista Viotti; from 1780 to 1782 they performed in Switzerland, Dresden, Warsaw and St. Petersburg. Pugnani died in Turin.

Fritz Kreisler borrowed Pugnani's name in order to publish some of his pieces (such as Praeludium and Allegro and Tempo di Minuetto), but in 1935 Kreisler revealed that these works were actually his own.

References[link]

• Russell, Tom; Churgin, B.; Moore, D. (June 1985). Johnson, J.. ed. Antonio Brioschi 1725-50/Fortunato Chelleri 1690-1757/Antonio Sacchini 1730-86/Gaetano Pugnani 1731-1798 (Series A, Volume 3 ed.). Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-8240-3858-4. 

External links[link]

• Free scores by Gaetano Pugnani at the International Music Score Library Project
• Pugnani Kreisler: Praeludium und Allegro Violin: Guido Rimonda,Orchestra Camerata Ducale

This article on a violinist or fiddler is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This article about an Italian musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e